Tenths

Tenths in English law, are the tenth part of the yearly value of every spiritual benefice as it is valued in the Liber Regis. This was an impost formerly paid to the pope, and was annexed to the crown by the 26 Henry VIII, c. 3, and the 1 Elizabeth, c. 4; but by the 2 Anne, c. 11, was granted, together with the first-fruits, to-wards the augmentation of poor clergymen. A, tax on the temporality, and also certain rents reserved by the king .out of the monastic possessions he granted to his subjects, were also. called tenths. Tenths of ecclesiastical benefices and lands were first paid in 1188 towards Henry II's crusade. SEE TAXATIO ECCLESIASTICA; SEE TEMPORALITIES OF BISHOPS; SEE TITHES.